


Where Bear?

by havocthecat



Category: Brave (2012), Warehouse 13
Genre: Bears, Crossover, F/F, Femslash, Friendship, Magical Artifacts, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 13:16:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/598189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/pseuds/havocthecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why are we freezing our asses off in Scotland?  In the middle of winter?"  Pete's voice was tinny on the Farnsworth.  He was shivering, even with the shearling cap jammed on his head and the wool coat pulled tight around his neck.</p><p>"Because Claudia got a ping from an archaeological expedition working out here," said Myka.  She shared a look with H.G.  "And because we don't want anyone <i>else</i> running off into the Scottish highlands because demon bears are chasing them."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Bear?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moebius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moebius/gifts).



> Moebius, I hope that you enjoy this! I had two brilliant betareaders, both to be named later, who helped me immensely with this story, especially with my pacing problems. I hope that you like a Warehouse 13 story with a Brave fusion aspect, and I hope everyone catches the Pitch Perfect shout-out. Your prompts were a delight and I had a great deal of fun with this. You gave me a chance to write a pairing I'd wanted to write for a while now.

"Why are we freezing our asses off in Scotland? In the middle of winter?" Pete's voice was tinny on the Farnsworth. He was shivering, even with the shearling cap jammed on his head and the wool coat pulled tight around his neck.

"Because Claudia got a ping on an archaeological expedition," said Myka. "Not to mention the grad students who are under observation because they saw ghost bears--"

"Demon bears," said H.G., interrupting. "There have been legends of demon bears brought here by a pact with the devil for centuries."

"Fine, demon bears," said Myka, sighing. "Not to mention their advisor, who wandered through the moors for three days chasing will o'the wisps, and was found naked in a stone circle. If we find the artifact, maybe we can reverse whatever's causing these hallucinations."

"I'll start searching the other room." H.G. almost ran out the door, her footsteps echoing along the vaulted ceiling. 

"Are you two okay?" asked Pete. He gave Myka the worried look he gave her on cases that involved Sam or her dad. "I mean, ever since H.G. came back to the Warehouse for the second time, you and she haven't spent more than five minutes together."

"What do you mean, Pete?" asked Myka. She was a trained interrogator. She could fool another trained interrogator. She could. Even Pete. "We've just been busy. H.G. has been going after all the artifacts that Artie stole when Magellan's astrolabe drove him insane, and the rest of us spent a month looking for Camille Williams' fan."

"If I had to run after one more college acapella group re-enacting Madame Butterfly, _I_ was going to start re-creating it." Pete grimaced. "Pretty gruesome."

Claudia had been undercover in the Barden University Bellas and they'd had to send Steve in. Myka had to feed him lines so they could change the ending. If Pinkerton and Butterfly hadn't reunited-- Myka shook her head. It hadn't happened. She wasn't going to think about it.

"On that uplifting note, we have an artifact to find," said Myka. "We'll start in the living quarters; you take the kitchens. Let me know if you find anything."

"Yeah, yeah, I will." Pete blew out, his breath fogging in the air. "I'll call you if I find anything."

***

"Any luck?" asked Myka, walking into what looked to be a library or a lecture room. 

H.G. jumped back and whirled around, a very large, heavy book in her hands. "Oh," she said. "Hello. I've found a history of the Dunbroch clan. I thought we might uncover what artifact is causing this." 

"I got a call from the hospital." Myka grimaced as she slipped her phone into her pocket. "The graduate students have claimed that they didn't see a demon bear. They're claiming their advisor turned into a bear."

"That makes this even more interesting," said H.G. She nodded down at the book. "Some time in the twelfth century, the Dunbrochs changed their heraldry. They added a rampant black bear."

"Strength, cunning, and ferocity," said Myka. Before she thought about it, she leaned over and peered at the drawing. 

"Do you think the Dunbrochs were a clan of were-bears?" asked H.G.

"No, that's not possible," said Myka. She looked up and caught her breath. H.G. was across the book from her and staring at her with bright brown eyes.

"I'd think you'd have learned by now nothing's impossible," said H.G., giving Myka an amused look.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Myka bolted upright and cleared her throat. "There doesn't seem to be much in the living quarters. Why don't you check the armory while I see if there's anything in the book."

***

"I've found--" Started H.G., turning into the room from the corridor and walking toward Myka with a triumphant look. She held out a longbow, blackened with age - or maybe fire - covered in carved versions of the Dunbroch crest. 

With each step, H.G.'s fingers lengthened into claws and black fur sprouted from her arms. She dropped the bow and started walking on all fours as her clothing stretched and tore. The bow clattered, echoed through the chamber. It wasn't loud enough to cover H.G.'s loud, rumbling growl.

"Oh my God." Myka backed up one slow, careful step at a time, fumbling with her Farnsworth. "Pete! H.G. turned into a werebear!" she hissed, backing up one slow, careful step at a time.

"Where bear?" asked Pete, totally ignoring Myka glaring at him and making shushing motions at the screen.

Myka turned around the Farnsworth and glared down at its back, not that Pete could see her.

H.G.'s head snapped up from where she'd been nosing around the arrows. Her fur was black and glossy, just like her hair, but her eyes were beady and brown, she had a muzzle, and she was baring her teeth at Myka. 

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Pete. "There bear! Guess I know where my bad vibes were coming from, huh?"

Or maybe H.G. was trying to smile? She wasn't growling. She sat up and stared down at herself, then up at Myka. 

"H.G.?" Myka stopped backing up. She took a deep breath, ignored every instinct in her body screaming at her to run because her girlfriend was a _bear_ , and stepped forward instead. "H.G., do you recognize me?"

"Myka, what are you doing?" asked Pete, panicked over the Farnsworth. "Get out of there!"

"No," said Myka, shaking her head. She took another step forward. "No, I think she recognizes me."

H.G. nodded. She waved a paw, then flinched. She looked down at herself again, back at Myka, and she yelped. H.G. Wells, famous author, adventurer - and bear. 

"When I said I wanted to see you more often, I didn't mean like this!" exclaimed Myka.

H.G. made a low, mournful sound and butted Myka's shoulder with her head., and that underneath all of that, she was still H.G. Wells. "I'm really sorry, H.G."

"What the hell happened?" asked Pete. He in the open archway, his back against the corridor wall. He hadn't drawn his Tesla, not yet. 

"We found a weapon," said Myka. She nodded down at the bow. "H.G. found this. She picked it up and turned into a bear."

"That totaly explains why people were running out into the snow," said Pete. "Bears. Big, honking magical bears. And not ghosts."

"How are we supposed to bag this one?" asked Myka. She snapped on a pair of purple gloves and picked up the bow. 

"I don't think we brought a bag that's big enough for a long bow, Mykes," said Pete, grimacing. He leaned over and peered at the carvings. "Are those bears?" 

"You know what I think this is?" Myka looked up and met Pete's eyes. "I bet this is this bow of Merida, the Maiden Queen of Dunbroch! She was super famous. H.G. and I found a history of the family, and they say that she killed Mor'du, this ancient demon bear, and then Queen Merida lifted some kind of enchantment on their family."

"Some kind of bear-related enchantment, you mean?" asked Pete. He snapped his fingers and then pointed at Myka. "Hey, wait, maybe we don't need a bag. Maybe this is a bifurcated artifact! What does a bow come with?"

"Arrows! And a quiver!" Myka turned to H.G. "Did you find either of those?"

"Why are you even asking her," said Pete. "H.G.'s a bear. She can't talk."

H.G. sat back on her legs, crossed her paws, and shook her head.

"Just because H.G. can't talk doesn't mean she can't communicate," said Myka. 

H.G. nodded in agreement.

"So let's look for them," said Pete. "H.G., maybe you better not help."

H.G. growled.

"Okay, okay, you can help!" Pete held up his arms and backed up. "I just thought not having opposable thumbs would kind of hold you back."

*** 

Several hours later, covered in dust that had to be at least three hundred years old, Pete sneezed. He opened his eyes and looked up, only to see beady black eyes staring at him.

"Holy crap!" Pete jumped back. "Jeez, watch it, will you? I get worried you're going to eat me when you sneak up on me like that."

"Like what?" asked Myka, turning the corner and coming into the room. Dust flew off as she shook her hair out. She pulled a rubber band off her forearm and tied it back into a pony tail. "You called us."

"I don't know, like a werebear." He shoved his hands under his armpits and nodded at H.G. "Or maybe like a werebear and a Warehouse agent."

"You called us, Pete," said Myka, sighing and sagging back against H.G. 

"I think I might have something," said Pete. He nodded at a tapestry on the wall, in rich colors, still bright after centuries. A woman with piles of bright red hair stared up at a black ear. "There's a room behind the curtain."

"Tapestry, Pete," sighed Myka. 

"Fine, tapestry, _whatever_ ," said Pete. He peered at it. "Do you think she married the bear? Or is that supposed to be a really hairy guy?"

"Ugh, Pete, gross!" Myka shoved him. "Queen Merida never wanted to marry. When she wasn't ruling, she spent her time riding the moors with her mother. Who is, by the way, the bear in that tapestry. There's a whole story in the histories about how she was cursed and Merida had to save her. The stories say that she had to learn how to understand her mother, but maybe they just had to put the two artifacts together."

"Found the quiver." He held it out with a purple-gloved hand. "You brought the bow?"

"Of course." Myka grinned and held it up. "What do you think? Just put them together?"

"Probably." Pete set the quiver down on a worn spot on the stone floor and Myka lay the bow down across it. "They're touching. Now what?" 

Myka stared at H.G., who shrugged. Inasmuch as a bear could shrug, anyway. "Nothing's happening." She tried not to wring her hands together. "Pete, nothing's happening."

"You think we have to save H.G. the same way Queen Merida saved her mother?" asked Pete. He frowned. "Hey, wait, what way was it? Either we figure this out or she gets stuck like that?"

"Oh, God." Myka turned around. "H.G., I don't want you to be a bear forever. No one does."

H.G. butted at Myka's hip. Myka dropped to her knees and cupped H.G.'s head in her hands. She smoothed her palm along H.G.'s fur and blinked away the tears in her eyes. 

"I missed you. Every day." Myka swallowed. "I think you're a little insane, and I'm not sure you're not homicidal when you've had a bad day. But I've seen you struggle with finding your place in the twenty-first century, and in America. I saw you at your absolute worst. But you _didn't_ destroy the world. You helped save it, over and over again. I've seen you at your best too."

"Mykes, are you saying what I think you're saying?" 

"Pete!" Myka glanced back at him. He looked worried, almost scared, maybe for her? Maybe because she was holding onto H.G., who was still a bear. Or maybe because of what she was about to say. "It's okay. I'm fine. H.G. is going to be fine."

H.G. made a curious sound.

"I love you, Helena," said Myka. "I don't know if you turned into a bear because of an artifact, or maybe the artifact triggered because I've been pushing you away. But I love you. And I'm sorry that you went through everything that you did, but what we have, that's going to be stronger than this. It's going to be okay. Because we love each other."

"Wow," said Pete. He sounded shaky. "Just, wow."

Shadows gathered around Helena. Myka held onto her, refusing to let go as she felt Helena's bones melt away and re-form under her hands. Was this the artifact version of Tam Lin? Did Merida and Queen Eleanor uncover an older artifact? Was there a Janet in their family tree?

H.G. gasped, her black hair covering Myka's hands as she stared at Myka with human eyes. "You love me?"

Myka let out an almost hysterical gasp of laughter. "I do," she said, nodding. She brushed away tears in her eyes.

"I suppose I should tell you I love you too," said H.G. She glanced down at herself. "But I seem to be naked, and I'm a little concerned about hypothermia."

"Noticed that," said Pete. Myka looked over at him. He'd turned around and was taking off his coat. He held it out to the side and waited for Myka to snag it from him. "I think we left the suitcases at the hotel. I'll go check."

"We need to talk." Myka slipped the coat around Helena's shoulders. "But first we should start a fire. And maybe get you something to wear."

"Well," said Helena, wrapping one arm around Myka's waist and tugging her close. "Maybe that part can wait."

\--end--


End file.
